Leverkusen had keeper Bernd Leno to thank for keeping a clean sheet in the first half as the hosts were more aggressive and also came close with Emil Forsberg whose low shot scraped past the post.

Timo Werner then missed his share of chances to put Leipzig ahead while Karim Bellarabi squandered Leverkusen’s greatest opportunity with only the Leipzig keeper to beat before the hosts’ captain Willi Orban was sent off with a second booking in the 88th.

But substitute Poulsen slid in to score off the post deep in stoppage time to lift Leipzig to 58 points.

Leaders Bayern, who host fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund in the league’s big game later on Saturday, are on 65 points, with Leipzig second on 58.

Hoffenheim suffered a shock 2-1 loss at Hamburg SV with Aaron Hunt scoring twice for the hosts, to remain third on 51, a point ahead of Dortmund.

Schalke 04 scored twice in each half to crush strugglers VfL Wolfsburg 4-1 to climb up to 10th on 37 points. The result left 2009 Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg in 14th place, a point above the relegation playoff spot. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)